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LONDON (Alliance News) - Battery minerals producer Strategic Minerals PLC on Thursday said it has begun refurbishment at its Mountain of Light processing plant in south Australia, which may be ready ahead of schedule.
Shares in Strategic Minerals were up 9.8% at 1.37 pence on Thursday afternoon.
The refurbishment programme will, according to Strategic Minerals, enable copper processing operations to restart in 2019.
"The prospect of the plant being ready ahead of schedule provides an opportunity to start copper production potentially earlier in the first half of 2019," said Strategic Minerals Managing Director John Peters.
In addition, Strategic Minerals announced the results from drilling at its Leigh Creek copper mine, also in south Australia, where significant copper mineralisation was intersected.
At the Rosmann East deposit, below the existing pit, 54 metres at 1.4% copper was found at hole RER18-02, and at hole RER18-01 50 metres at 0.4% copper was identified.
In addition, Strategic Minerals completed a 10-hole, 500 metres reverse circulation drilling programme testing for copper oxide potential between the Lynda and Lorna Doone deposits at Leigh Creek. Only minor mineralisation was returned from these assays.
"The drilling opens the potential not only to add significant resources but also provides the opportunity for the Rosmann East deposit to be a material additional feed into the Mountain of Light plant. To explore this possibility further, the company has allocated funds for additional diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork," said Peters.
Results of this testwork are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2019.
